Sir Cecil Hermann Kisch, KCIE, CB (31 March 1884 – 20 October 1961) was a British civil servant in the

India Office The India Office was a British government department established in London in 1858 to oversee the administration, through a Viceroy and other officials, of the Provinces of India. These territories comprised most of the modern-day nations of ...

who rose to be Deputy Under-Secretary of State for India from 1943 to 1946. In later life, he became an author and historian, and had a long literary career.

Early life and family

He belonged to the Jewish Kisch family of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He was born on 31 March 1884 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India. He was the son of Herman Michael Kisch and Alice Charlotte Kisch. His father Michael Kisch joined the

Imperial Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

in 1873 and later became the deputy secretary to government of India, postmaster-general of Bengal as well as director-general of the post office in India. His brother Frederick Hermann Kisch became a British delegate to the Versailles peace conference after having fought in

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. Cecil Kisch has been married twice, once to Myra Hannah Kisch and the other time to Rebecca Grace Kisch. He died on 20 October, 1961 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England.

Career

He joined the General Post Office in 1907, then was appointed to the India Office in 1908. In 1917, he became a private secretary to

Edwin Montagu Edwin Samuel Montagu PC (6 February 1879 – 15 November 1924) was a British Liberal politician who served as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922. Montagu was a "radical" Liberal and the third practising Jew (after Sir Herb ...

, the then Secretary of State for India. In 1921, he was appointed as the finance department of the India Office and was the key driver behind numerous monetary reforms including the establishment of the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

. He has represented India at the international monetary conference at Geneva in 1933 and later served on the supervisory finance committee of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...

Works

He has also authored a number of works on colonial India and its monetary policies: * ''Central banks; a study of the constitutions of banks of issue, with an analysis of representative charters '' * ''The principles and problems of federal finance'' * ''The Portuguese bank note case; the story and solution of a financial perplexity '' He has translated a number of works from Russian language to the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

: * ''The waggon of life, and other lyrics by Russian poets of the nineteenth century'' * ''Alexander Blok, prophet of revolution; a study of his life and work illustrated by translations from his poems and other writings ''

Awards and honours

At the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He received his knighthood at the

1932 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1932 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King. The ...

and was awarded the Order of the Indian Empire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kisch, Cecil 1884 births 1961 deaths English historians Historians of India English male non-fiction writers Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Civil servants in the General Post Office Civil servants in the India Office 20th-century British civil servants British people in colonial India